State Sen. James Forrester, a sponsor of a proposed amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would ban gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits, called Asheville a “cesspool of sin” in remarks at a Gaston church last night, according to a report in the Gaston Gazette.

Forrester, a Republican whose district includes parts of Gaston, Iredell and Lincoln counties, was trying to rally support for the amendment.

“The topic of larger cities in North Carolina was briefly discussed and how residents of those areas would vote on the amendment,” the report reads. “Forrester mentioned the Charlotte metropolitan area and Chapel Hill. He then called the city of Asheville ‘a cesspool of sin’ and said if he was a homosexual, he’d ‘target’ North Carolina to practice homosexual ‘mischief’ because there is no constitutional law prohibiting it.”

The main sponsor of the proposal in the Senate, the report also quotes Forrester as declaring, about LGBT people, that “‘We need to reach out to them and get them to change their lifestyle back to the one we accept.”

To get on the ballot for the 2012 election, the amendment needs to pass both the state House and Senate by three-fifths. The governor cannot veto such a proposal.

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Asheville had the opportunity to take a public stand against Forrester’s constitutional amendment: council members Mannheimer, Bothwell, and Smith requested a vote on a resolution showing that the city favours marriage equality. As a surprise to no one, Mayor Bellamy scheduled this for the September 27th meeting, well AFTER the state legislature is likely to vote on the issue.

Mayor Bellamy has a number of scheduling problems when it comes to equal rights for the LGBT community. She cannot find time, again this year, to proclaim October 1st Blue Ridge Pride Day. Her office maintains that, because the community already got LGBT History Month last June–albeit 15 days late–we have used up our quota. While Bellamy publicly acknowledges her debt to both the civil rights and women’s movements, she clearly feels that equality ends with her. She opposes marriage equality, and now she has her scheduling book working for her. Justice…some day, maybe.

Asheville is fortunate to have two candidates for city council, Lael Gray and TJ Thomasson, who have proven records on LGBT and other diversity issues. Bill Russell, noticeably absent on two key votes affecting the local LGBT community, has dropped out of the race. We have a chance, with Thomasson and Gray, to elect a city council that is not only itself diverse but committed, unlike our mayor, to bringing justice to all of us.

I’m not even gay, but it’s good to know I’m not the only devil-worshiper in the AVL area! BTW that’s an awesome old-man pompadour, I’m not even half that old and don’t even have the hairline to pull it off.

“how is it that there is something wrong with the large percentage of people that are not lgbt? Don’t they have rights?”

Who’s claiming there’s “something wrong”? As for ‘rights’, surely it cannot be argued that heterosexual people have fewer rights than those who are not. And when people like Mr. Forrester call for others to “change their lifestyle back to the one we accept”, they want the ‘right’ to determine how others live, based upon their personal bias. Should that be anyone’s ‘right’, gay or straight?

By the way, can anyone explain just what the gay “lifestyle” is? I’ve heard that a lot, but when I’ve asked those who use the phrase what it means, I’ve never gotten a cogent answer. I guess it’s like the ‘hedonist lifestyle’ or the ‘pedophile lifestyle’, or maybe the ‘lifestyle of the rich and famous’.

Fellas and gals, you’re looking at this through the wrong end of the telescope. What better publicity for our happy little city than to have some dinosaur call us the “Cesspool of Sin”? I’m thinking at very least we should add it to the sign on I-240: “Billy Graham Freeway — and Cesspool of Sin! Welcome To Asheville!”

Well, since my partner and I are both gay, I suppose the gay lifestyle is to go to work each day, come home, eat supper, watch TV or be on Facebook, go to bed/sleep, repeat next day. That’s our gay lifestyle.

Occasionally we have a friend come over to visit and maybe even have supper with us, but since we don’t drink or use drugs or stay up late, I suppose we don’t fit too well into the rest of Forrester’s idea of this cesspool of sin.

Oh! and we get along with our retired Baptist and Episcopalian minister neighbors and that semi-retired witch that lives at the end of the street. I guess she’s a witch. She owns a cat!

It’s a swimming pool, not a cesspool. Filled with beer – very good beer – not sin. He’s squinting in the picture up there: Maybe he needs Lasix surgery? There seems to be a vision problem of some kind.

Hailing from North Georgia, and I’ll tell anyone that Asheville is my favorite place – I’d move there if I could. The people are warm and friendly and I feel so safe there.
Plus it it absolutely gorgeous AND fun.

Dionysis,
No, it’s just that anything can be argued, even if all the evidence points to the contrary (see anthropogenic climate change and evolution). Everyone knows wealthy heterosexual christian males are under constant persecution. It’s way easier to be gay.

The whole world is a cesspool of sin. The Church is no sanctuary at all, in fact, it’s Satan’s favorite target!

Funny how Sen. Apodaca, who represents Asheville and Buncombe County, has not demanded a public apology from Sen. Forrester. He is already slated to vote for this, so by default he is AGREEING with Sen. Forrester’s comments! Like in the song and poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” he’s making himself a part of the crime.

It’s already illegal for gays to marry. This is nothing more than poking in the eyes of gay people for NO reason other than political resume enhancement. We should be talking about the REAL moral issue of our time which is the absurd debt at the federal, state, and local levels. This is nothing but a lazy diversion for Republican leadership. If this ends up on the ballot I hope every one of them is challenged in the primaries and I may be one of the challengers.

We should not owe any man anything but to love one another, according to Romans 13.

And this amendment could be overturned by the Supreme Court anyway. They legalized sodomy in NC, Texas, and everywhere else in 2003 by a 6-3 vote. Remember that’s a REPUBLICAN Supreme Court. Even Justice Thomas, who voted in dissent partly due to technical issues, said had he been in the Texas legislature, he would have voted to get rid of sodomy laws. Since there are different laws in different states, the Supremes may end up deciding this. I personally think it’s a states’ rights issue, and most of us think just outlawing gay marriage by law is enough. This overreach by the NC GOP could cost us elections and may get overturned anyway.

Their complete lack of vision on this is reason enough why the Republicans need to be replaced in the primaries.

It is unfortunate Sen. Forrester made his
hateful comment about Asheville, especially at this time when we are commorating the 10th anniversity of a tragic event that resulted from hate. I find it sad that some have not learned that mean spiritedness is distructive. I am a Southern Baptist who has lived in Asheville all my life and have never had any reason to think of my beautiful city as a “cesspool of sin”.What facts does Sen. Forrester have that would lead him to make such a mean comment about Asheville?

Oh please, Senator Forrester is probably deep enough in the closet to have adventures in Narnia! The sheer magnitude of his hatred for the LGBT community is a prime example of reaction formation at its finest.